Area home builders see fourth straight year of rising sales

Area home builders saw a surge in buyers in December, helping 2015 turn out to be a positive year for local home construction.

Builders filed 358 single-family construction permits in the nine-county metropolitan area in December, the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis said Friday morning. That's up from 325 filings in December 2014.

For the year, 5,118 permits were filed in the area, up from 5,084 in 2014, an increase of less than 1 percent. Filings were basically flat on a year-over-year basis heading into December.

Permit filings rose for the fourth straight year and hit their highest mark since 2007, when 7,331 permits were filed.

Marion County saw a 42 percent rise in filings in December, from 50 to 71. For the year, 885 permits were filed in the county, up 9 percent from 2014.

As usual, Hamilton County led the area in filings, with 1,908 in 2014, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year.

Hendricks was the next busiest county last year, with 719 permits, down 4 percent from 2014.

Annual filings were down 7 percent in Johnson County, to 583, and dropped 7 percent in Boone County, to 393.

Filings were up 3 percent in Hancock County in 2015, to 360, and rose 12 percent in Shelby County, to 73.

Permits dropped 8 percent in Morgan County, to 114, and dipped 14 percent in Madison County, to 83.